Building Highly Collaborative Teams and Their Impact on Law Firms

In this One-Hour Briefing, the panel will explore the benefits, challenges and obstacles attorneys face trying to achieve highly effective collaboration among and between attorneys and administrators in the legal profession. While law firms in general, and law firm partners in particular generally espouse the benefits and encouragement of collaboration, in practice this goal seems to fall short over territorial issues and trust.  Now more than ever, highly effective collaboration is being viewed as a necessity more than a nice to have. Since the middle of March 2020, the legal profession has transformed more than in the past several decades.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created a VUCA environment of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity impacting the practice of law. In order for attorneys, law firms and legal departments to address the substantial obstacles posed by a VUCA world, high level collaboration is a powerful tool to summon the creative energy that produces innovation, best practices, self-awareness, accountability and productivity. Highly effective collaboration requires vulnerability-based trust, emotional intelligence and self-awareness. Professionals who collaborate effectively know how to assemble a team of subject matter experts, members who can execute a plan, how to inspire and motivate, as well as provide encouragement and recognition.

Expert faculty will:

• Define collaboration and discuss its application within the legal profession (10 minutes)
• Address why attorneys should care about effective collaboration, especially in VUCA times (12 minutes)
• Offer strategies for collaborating in a remote work environment as well as the foreseeable hybrid work environment (12 minutes)
• Discuss how effective collaboration leads to increases in productivity and efficiency (12 minutes)
• Review specific behaviors for enhancing how lawyers can enhance how they collaborate and foster collaboration on their teams (14 minutes)

Faculty:

Dr. Heidi Gardner, Ph.D. – Distinguished Fellow & Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School

Gordon Loeb – President of Loeb Leadership

Lanier Saperstein - Partner at Jones Day

David B. Sarnoff, Esq., ACC. – Certified Executive Coach and Director of Strategic Partnerships for Loeb Leadership